Marco Rubio

By Bryan Thomas/Getty Images.

Bio

FOLLOW

Follow to get the latest news and analysis about Marco Rubio in your inbox.

Bio

One hundred years from now, when historians are writing The Decline and Fall of America, they’ll recall what might have been had Marco Rubio not fumbled that debate in New Hampshire. Would #RobotRubio have been replaced by #MarcoTheGreat? Would Rubio have won the Granite State, and then South Carolina, and then crushed it on Super Tuesday? Would Trump or Cruz have bowed out?

Of course, that didn’t happen. Instead, Rubio—too smooth, too young, not smart enough, lacking in depth or gravitas or any appreciation of what was really at stake—flubbed it. Even though he might come back in four or eight years, he failed in his opportunity to save America from the Italianization of American politics.

For now, Rubio’s career in politics is over. Up next, one expects a short stint at a bank or hedge fund, some philanthropic work having to do with poor children in this or that battleground state (Ohio? Virginia?), and then either a gubernatorial run in Florida in 2018 or another presidential bid in 2020. Then, he might wrestle the smoldering remnants of his party and convince Latinos, Muslims, and women that not all Republicans are evil (who knows?), and restore some semblance of normalcy to our politics. At that point, Rubio’s compelling but oft-repeated personal narrative—that he is the son of hardworking Cuban immigrants; that he struggled with his own student debt—will enjoy a fresh audience once again.